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New Jersey woman faces kidnapping charge for taking 3-year-old girl from school bus

Marian Moussa is shown during her probable cause hearing Wednesday, October 9, 2013 in Grand Rapids, Mich. She is accused of taking a neighbor's 3-year-old daughter off of a school bus.
(Chris Clark | MLive.com)

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A New Jersey woman will face a felony charge of kidnapping after she took a 3-year-old girl from a school bus and kept her for more than three hours as her parents frantically searched for her.

Marian Moussa faces life in prison if convicted now that her case has been bound over to Kent County Circuit Court after a probable cause hearing Wednesday, Oct. 9.

According to testimony in Grand Rapids District Court on Jan. 14, Moussa told the Dean’s Transportation school bus driver that she was the mother of toddler Marianne Marco, a special-needs student who attended Ridgemoor Park Child Development Center.

The incident occurred at 3710 Camelot Drive SE in Windridge Apartments off East Paris Avenue north of 28th Street.

Bus driver Lawrence Kranz testified he had never seen the 27-year-old woman before, so he asked for two pieces of identification and called Dean Transportation dispatch to see if the woman was on the list of parents or guardians allowed to take the child.

Kranz said the dispatcher called the school and then called the driver back to say he could release the child.

According to court records, there was a technical issue between the dispatch center and school causing a miscommunication, which led to the school approving the release of the child.

“I watched (Moussa) take the child by the hand and walk to a vehicle,” Kranz told Judge Michael Christensen.

Kranz said usually the child was picked up by another woman he assumed was the child’s grandmother, but testimony revealed was her mother.

The child’s father, Marco Curiel, testified the child was supposed to be dropped off around 3:30 p.m. but he received a call from his wife, Celia, about 4 p.m. saying the girl had not been dropped off at the front door.

The Curiel family had moved a couple weeks before the incident to a new home on 36th Street SE and while the child was picked up from that address, Kranz said his paperwork still called for the child to be dropped off at Camelot Drive.

It was around 7 p.m. before Grand Rapids Police Officer Andy Bingel was called to the parking lot at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox, 330 Lakeside Drive NE, to meet Moussa who showed up in her sedan with the child in the backseat.

Assistant Kent County Prosecutor Travis Earley played a garbled in-car recording of Moussa screaming obscenities at Bingle as she is handcuffed, frisked and put into a squad car.

According to a probable cause statement filed by investigators, Moussa allegedly told police she was concerned about the child’s backpack containing a bomb.

But in testimony, Moussa is said to have told officers that she brought the child to Burger King and that she tried to contact the Kent County Sheriff’s Department and Child Protective Services because she had concerns about the child’s safety.

“I never want to hurt her,” Moussa can be heard saying on the police recording.

Moussa is represented by attorneys Gerald Lykins and Jeffrey Kortes. Kortes argued that while his client could be charged with resisting arrest, there was not evidence that she intended to conceal her custody of the child.

Kortes said she made several attempts to contact authorities within less than an hour of having the child, proving she did not intend to kidnap the girl.

However, Christensen found the fact she lied to the bus driver to get the child, then kept her from her parents for more than three hours was enough to establish probable cause to send the case to felony court.

“The court is satisfied she did kidnap this child,” Christensen said.

Moussa was deemed competent to stand trial by state mental health evaluators. She was also charged with possession of marijuana.

Moussa remains free on a $5,000 bond and is able to return to her home in Edison, N.J., as the case moves forward.